Bottle rack



W. H. MATTHAI BOTTLE RACK Nov. 22, 1932.

Filed May 18; 1952 Snventor i) neg (Ittot Patented Nov. 22, 1932 WILLIAM HOWARD MATTHAI, F GABRISON, MARYLAND BOTTLE BACK Application filed May 18, 1932. Serial No. 611,955.;

bottle-rack for pendantly sustaining a num-f ber of bottles and which will remain in an upright position regardless of the distribution of the bottles about the rack.

A still further object is to'provide an improved construction of bottle-rack .wherein the parts may, if desired, be shipped in a knock-down condition and readily assembled by a purchaser.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rack for a number of bottles wherein the bottles will be suspended from their necks, leaving. the bottoms free and unsupported so they may be held outwardly in an 'inclined position, more or less according to their diameters, by a rest-ring which engages them above their bottoms, and thereby enable the rack to accommodate bottles that vary greatly in either diameter or length, such as pint or quartbottles, or both at the same time. With these, and other objects in view, the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein, Y

rest ring, together with a bottle suspended fromthe notched plate and locked in the notch thereof by the locking-ring.

In the drawing the numeral 5 designates I the supporting bars whose lower ends are attached to an annular basc-rlng 6 and'whose Fig. 1 shows the improved rack inperspective with two bottles held by their necks 1 upper. ends are attached, in a peculiar manner, to a bottle-suspension plate 7 as will presently be more fully explained.

The supporting bars preferably extend upwardly in an inclined converging direction from thebase-ring 6 to a point where they are bent to form a short vertical portion 8 and a bottle rest-ring 9 extends around and embraces all of the bars at the vertical portions and this ring also serves to properly space the bars and hold them in rigid relation. WVhile this ring 9 maybe attached to the vertical faces of the several bars in any suitable manner, I prefer to employ bolts and nuts 10 and 11 respectively so that the'parts may be shipped in a knock-down condition.

The suspension plate 7, in this instance, is smaller in diameter than the annular ring 9 beneath it so that the several supporting bars 5 assume a converging inclined position at 12 from the ring 9 up to the suspension plate 7.

1' Each supporting-bar has a horizontal shoulder 13 formed therein directly beneath the suspension plate 7 so that said plate may rest upon said shoulders, and adjacent to each of said shoulders the plate 7 has'a vertical slot 14 extending therethrough from the lower to the upper side.

Each supporting bar has an up-turned end 15, just beyond its supporting shoulder 13,

which end projects up into the slot 14 of the .plate' so as to lock said upper end of each supporting bar in said slot against twistlng strains.

I also attach orsecure the plate 7 down on the shoulders-13 of the bars, preferably by short bolts and nuts 16 and 17 respectively, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Obviously, the up-turned ends 15 of the supporting bars maybe extended up through the slots 14 of plate 7, to a point well above the latter,- as indicated by broken lines 18 in Fig. 3, and as there would be at least three of these extensions,-they would readily form a holder for a bottle on top of the suspension plate, if the handle 19 were omitted.

The suspension plate7 is of a generally circular form, having a flat central portion 20 and an endless series of upwardly-inclined sup ortin fingers 21 with intervening notc es 22 etween adjacent fingers, thus producin alternate fingers and notches.

Eac supporting finger 21 has an upturned flange 23 at its extreme outer edge, while the base 24 of each notch is rounded to conform substantially to the cross-sectional contour of the bottle-neck;

Most bottles 25 have an enlar ement 26 between the mouth and neck, and have desi ed my suspension plate 'to make use of this enlargement in holdin place in the notches 22 and etween the fingers 21 to prevent accidental displacement.

To place a bottle in engagement with my suspension plate, it is necessary to lift the bottle until the enlargement 26 will pass over the upper edge of the up-turned flange 23 at opposite sides of the notch in which the neck is to be inserted, and then pass the reduced portion of the neck in the notch. Then, after the neck has been inserted, allow the bottle to move down until its enlargement seats on the side edges of the fin ers at opposite sides of it, at which time the ower part of the enlargement will assume position below the said flanges 23 so the latter will prevent said necks from being displaced unless the bottles are lifted.

The weight, therefore, of the bottle, after,

' sale of liquid refreshments, the bottles, will be so engaged at their necks as to prevent their accidental displacement.

When however, the device is to be used as a display rack, and it is desired to lock the bottles in place to prevent theft, I have devised a simple means for effecting this locking which will now be explained.

After the bottles have been inserted in the notches withtheir sides restingagainst the annular ring 9 and their bottoms free and unsupported, a band 27 may be placed so as to encircle the necks of all of the bottles, at a point immediately below the sus ension plate, and locked in that position. is ring 7 or band 27 is preferably formed in two sections, two ends of which are pivoted together at 28, and the other two ends locked together by means of any suitable lock, such as shown at 29. a

The diameter of theband or ring27' is smaller than the diameter of the suspension;

plate 7 sothat the ring cannot be passed over the fingers 21,,as shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 3.

'When'the band or pace around the group of bottle-necks, the tles cannot be manipulated tofreetheir necks from the notches 22 and therefore the bottles will be locked in the'rack and cannot Y the bottles in ring is thus locked in- 27 about the bottle-necks, cannot drop dowri over the bodies" of the suspended bottles..-

The enga ement of the locking ring or band about the ottle-necks also prevents the lower unsupported ends of the bottles from being manipulated to swing them to the inner side of the rest-ring 9 and therefore the bottles cannot be swung together at their lower ends in an effort to release the bottle-necks from the notches of the suspension plate.

The vertical face of either the base-ring 6 or the rest-ring 9 will serve to carry advertising matter in addition to performing their other functions. It will be noted that the rest-ring 9 is of a larger diameter than the suspension points around the plate 20 so that the bodies of the bottles will rest against the outer side of said rest-ring and thus be made to assume an inclined position.

It will also be noted that the location of the rest-ring 9 beneath the suspension plate 20 is such that the ring will engage the inner sides of the suspended bottles above the bottoms of the latter, and that the bottoms of the bottles are free and unsupported.

There is a decided advantage in suspending the bottles from their neck-ends and then providing some means that will engage the inner sides of the bodies of the suspended bottles, above their bottoms, to swing the lower free ends of the bottles outwardly so they will assume an inclined position.

It will be understood that the bottoms of the bottles are entirely free of any bottom support, therefore, the same rack will acpomnilodate bottles that greatly differ in engt It will further be seenthat by employing means, such as the rest-ring 9, to engage the sides of the bottles above the bottoms of the latter, the same rack will accommodate bottles that greatly differ in diameter, for, as the bottles increase in diameter, they will as sume a greater inclination from the suspension-plate down.

Thus by combining a neck-suspension plate with a rest-ring to engage the sides of the bottles, above the bottoms of the latter, the same rack will accommodate. bottles of, either pint or quart capacities, and the same number of bottles may be placed in thevrack regardless of whether they are pints or quarts, because, the bottoms are unsupported, and the differences in diameters are automatically taken care of by the freedom of the bottoms to move outwardly away from the rest-ring when the sides of the bottles rest therea t- WhatI claim-is,

1. In a bottle rackthe combination with 4 message an annular suspension-plate havin an annnlar series of alternate suspension gers and bottle-neck receivingrnotchesaround its pe riphery for pendantly sustaining bottles by their necks and means below said suspension-plate and above the bottoms of the bot ties for holding the neck-sustained bottles in an inclined position. 2. In a bottle rack the combination with m an annular suspension-plate having an annu lar series of upwardly-inclined supporting fingers with intervening bottle-neck receiving-notches around its periphery, of means for sustaining the sus ension-plate in an ele- 15 vated position where y the bottles may. be pendantly sustained from their necks and 'means belowthe suspension-plate and above the bottoms of the suspended bottles for engaging the sides of the bottle above the hot 29 toms of the latter and holding the neck-suspended bottles in an inclined position.

. 3. In a bottle rack the combination with an annular suspension-plate having bottle-neck receiving notches around its periphery for 5 pendantly sustaining bottles by their necks,

of a plurality of bars engaging said suspension-plate to support the-same in an elevated position and-a band extending around and engaging said bars,said band forming a 80 support at the inner sides of the suspended bottles Well above'the bottoms of the latter to hold the latter in inclined suspended ositiorllf with respect to the vertical axis 0 the rac I 35 In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM HOWARD MATTHAI. 

